A Toast
by Kisuru-chan
Summary: Fai is injured. Kurogane decides Fai needs to stop being a baby and take his medicine. In the early Infinity arc.


**A/N** : Written as a Chocolate Box 2016 exchange gift for JordannaMorgan.

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Kurogane peeks in through the crack in the door, not quite sure what he will see on the other side when he does. For the last few days the idiot has been ignoring him after a particularly bad scrape at a chess match, and Kurogane is not amused with his attitude. Regardless, he does want to check in on the so-called numbskull just to make sure he isn't doing something totally stupid like he was usually prone to do.

That ship sailed back in Tokyo, however; for the last few weeks Fai has refused his blood like the witch advised he might.

Kurogane refuses to think of him as anything other than an idiot for denying his right to live when he so desperately feels the urge to keep breathing, but Kurogane can only push him so much.

On the bed he sees Fai sitting upright, staring gravely at the ceiling with his hands relaxed in his lap. His expression is blank, teeth ground together in patience. He appears to be thinking of something, maybe the pain lurking under the bandage running down his leg. It had been a nasty strike he had taken on, and with his new vampiric abilities not able to reach peak form in such a brutal environment he, he had gone overboard and gotten himself injured.

"Are you okay, Fai?" Mokona's worries. Kurogane can see her peer at Fai carefully.

Fai sounds jovial, but Kurogane hears the extra breath of effort hidden in his tone, the strain not to give into the pain. "I've never felt better. I wish I could have avoided that punch yesterday in the chess match, but it's healing. It's really grueling work to keep a living in this country, isn't it?"

"Fai." Mokona frowned and put her paws gently on a piece of gauze shifting out of his bandage, apparently communicating the sadness that only touch could deliver.

Sakura and Syaoran had been so worried that Kurogane had simply shooed them out of the apartment for the time being. After all, the very last thing Kurogane needed was a headache: Sakura would stare at Fai with sadness, and Syaoran would stare at them both with that tight-locked serious look reserved for the worst of situations.

Good on them, to be honest. It was good the kids could ignore the tragedy going on here. Kurogane wishes he could get out of this dingy apartment and explore the mafia-ridden country of Infinity for himself, but he willingly stayed back to watch over the magician so he did nothing reckless.

Why had he done that when Fai still refused to drink his blood? After leaving Tokyo, Fai had barely even glanced at his wrist for nourishment, and if he had Kurogane had missed out on it. But Fai was keeping up a strong front; he refuses to let Kurogane in only after a two whole weeks out of Tokyo.

No, it was better that the two of them grab a bite to eat for once, maybe act lovey-dovey or something. It wasn't like Kurogane cared if they wanted to do that, because they deserved happiness if that was the ticket. Eat out somewhere good for once.

The only one that had refused to leave was the white manju. Mokona leaving Kurogane alone would have been the true shocker.

"It does hurt," Fai explained. He winced slightly, and it was a motion only Kurogane seemed to catch. "But I'm strong, so it's okay. My body just doesn't know how to heal itself quite yet like it's supposed to."

Vampires were meant to have healing abilities, but Kurogane suspected those abilities had not kicked in fully because he has not had a substantial amount of his blood yet. Fai's irritatingly persistent in not coming to him for his blood, and Kurogane, while respectful of that willpower, just thinks he is a fool that can't hurdle over his pride.

Kurogane straightens. Without Fai twitching the slightest bit, Kurogane knows he has been detected. Fai does not have to show that he realizes these little actions; Kurogane can read Fai just like one of the ancient scrolls back in Nihon.

Kurogane swings the door open, and he steps into the room with a determined step.

"You should take better care of yourself in the chess matches," Kurogane declares. He only takes a small step into the room, but it is enough for him to feel the heavinesss behind Fai's gaze, the sting of disapproval that has lasted since Tokyo. "I don't think you've taken your medicine today," he adds, not ashamed to just get it out in the open.

Fai does nothing to acknowledge the resentment he may feel about Kurogane's presence, especially not in front of Mokona.

"I don't have to take any medicine for a scratch like this, I am completely fine!" Fai says with a wide smile. He gestures around the small room he had all too himself. "You worry too much, Kuro-pi." He turns his attention to Mokona sitting next to him on the bed. "Aren't I double lucky to have someone like Kuro-pi who comes to visit?"

Mokona bounced on the bedsheet happily. "Mokona cares about Fai, too! I'm sad when Fai is sad!" she sing-songs, and leaps to give him a short kiss on the cheek.

Fai laughs. "I'm so incredibly lucky!"

Disgusted, Kurogane mumbles something under his breath he does not remember a minute later. A curse, a suggestion, it hardly matters when Fai is putting a fortress around his emotions once again.

"I know what will make us feel better," Fai says, his sober expression slowly turning into a Cheshire cat grin. The switch was so whiplash Kurogane had no idea that it was coming. "I want to drink! Kuro-pon, get us the alcohol from the kitchen, please!"

Hearing this, Mokona squealed. "Drunk, drunk! Mokona wants to get really drunk!" Mokona cheers, dancing a small jig.

Kurogane can barely believe what he is hearing. The both of them are purely impossible, and he regrets coming into the room at all. It serves him right for worrying about that idiot. He stomps towards the bed. "You have a scar down your leg, and you— Who do you think am I, your servant!?" He had no idea how Fai equated drinking alcohol with his wounds magically healing, but Fai acts as though he will never forgive him for saving his life in the first place.

Fai carelessly waved his hand in Kurogane's face to diffuse the attention. "Of course not! But I'm so sick, I can barely move." Fai flopped back on the bed to demonstrate his point and coughed as sickly as possible. He sighs dramatically.

Mokona somehow produced a water pack for Fai's head out of nowhere, and going along with the joke, gently rested it on Fai's forehead as if he had a burning fever.

"I need alcohol to survive," Fai whispers. "I need alcohol . . . please, Kuro-tan. . . ."

"Please, don't let Fai die! Save him!" Mokona pleads Kurogane as if this whole charade was real, now waving a little blue fan on Fai's pretending red, slacken face.

Kurogane wants to punch the wall, or anything stable and able to take some punishment really, but he knows that will cost them extra money the group will have to win in a chess match, and Kurogane is not too thrilled with that idea at all.

Balling his fists, he scowls. He had no choice but to act like a waiter, he guessed. "Stop whining like a child. I'll get you the medicine you need for your wounds, and that's all," Kurogane lays down the law.

Like hell he would get alcohol and sit around while they are both drunk. Didn't they do that often enough anyway?

Kurogane storms out of the room and enters the kitchen. He grabs the medicine that Fai will need and drips it in one of the gold, rose pattern cups they had managed to buy with their chess match money. The concoction is crimson. The stench of strong herbs floats past Kurogane's nose, and he sniffs, grimacing with a sour look.

"I pity whoever has to drink this slop, but this is what the kid says is a good remedy from Clow Country," Kurogane murmurs. He could think of a million better cures from Nihon; being a ninja meant quick cures, but he would honor Syaoran's diligence to make this medicine at all. He truly does feel repulsed with the odor though, even if it is the idiot playing his usual game of clueless.

Kurogane took one final look at the brew. Something was . . . missing. He could not figure out what it was until the shine of his sword leaning against the nearby chair caught his attention. He glanced at his arm, and then back to the sword, and then back to the cup with an idea formulating.

Kurogane approaches the room again. By the time he has returned Fai is snugly tucked under the blankets, and he is chatting with Mokona about what they will eat the next day and the next match they have. It was one thing to be happy, but this was not a happy country, and Kurogane was not impressed with his cranked-up optimism while healing from the last battle.

"Here," Kurogane announces, and he hands the cup over to Fai.

"How thoughtful! All this for me, and I'll feel better in no time!" Fai does not even look inside the cup. He just lifts it to his lips. He takes a small sip, and—almost like he tasted poison, as if his tongue were on fire—he pulls away from the drink, sloshing the red liquid on his fluffy white pillowcase.

Kurogane and Fai exchange glances. Fai shifts the glass in his hand, pensive, blue eyes widened and near wild. Mokona tilts her head adorably in confusion.

"Your blood," Fai says, breaking the ice a moment later. The glee from his voice has evaporated for the most part. "Why?"

Fai did not even have to elaborate. He just looked at Kurogane with one of those glances that said it all, the kind that escaped his notice every once and a while that showed his real thoughts. Kurogane could not explain just how satisfying it was to see that emotion so raw, so passionate.

Mokona can only watch the spectacle as it unfolds before her. She hurries to glance back between Fai and Kurogane.

"I'm not forcing you to do anything," Kurogane challenges. He squares his shoulders and glares. "I'm making a point."

"A point? Do tell. What point would that be, Kuro-rin?" Fai asks politely, gripping the cup with a clack of his fingernails just a little too loud for comfort.

"That you trust me," Kurogane replies.

Fai blanches. He does not seem to understand. "And how did I do that? I only took the cup from you."

"You didn't think the medicine was alcohol," Kurogane reminded him.

Fai's eyebrow quirks in wonderment. "You said you were getting medicine," Fai says slowly as if he were still tasting the afteraffect of the blood, fighting off the urge to drink. He shivered, not absolute where this line of thought was going for once.

"Exactly," Kurogane confirms. "That's what I told you, isn't it? You wanted to drink, but I told you I'd get medicine. You believed me."

Fai blinks, this time like he saw something astonishing on the horizon of a world far away. He nods numbly, seemingly lost for what else he should say to discourage Kurogane's line of thought.

"You drank the medicine because you believed what I told you. You trusted that I would help you, and you did. It doesn't matter that my blood is there; you believed that I would look out for your best interest," Kurogane says. "And the blood is only to jolt you out of your self-denial."

Fai gives Kurogane a level stare before his head lowered. He stared at the blanket under him with a dark glower, and his free hand gripped at the quilted cover, veins popping on the back of his hand he held on so tightly, breath quickening.

Kurogane takes a deep breath. He usually is not a man of many words, but these had to be said, because he was not going to have Fai hold a grudge within a sense slapped into him in some manner.

"I won't force you to drink that, but you know I'll keep helping you, and there's more whenever you want my blood, because I don't back out of my promises. I don't get it but you'll need your vampire abilities to survive here, and you proved that just by taking your medicine," Kurogane says with a plain but firm tone of voice that spoke volumes of his conviction.

Fai remains quiet for a moment later. He is mulling over something in his mind, but he does not want to voice his thoughts. He tilts the cup towards Kurogane, and he shrugs helplessly. "A toast to you for discovering something else about me, I suppose."

Kurogane smirks at the dawning horror on Fai's face as the color drains from under his eyes, the bad and the good. "I'll see you in the morning."

With that, Kurogane storms out of the room and shuts the door behind him. His reason has been made loud and clear, and the idiot needs time to adjust to that lesson.

Mokona hops after Kurogane. She lands on his shoulder just before he slams the door behind him, and confusion crosses her face when she is not instantly reprimanded for following after Kurogane. She shrugs, and decides to scold Kurogane despite it all.

"That was mean!" Mokona chides him. Her ears drop, and she sighs sadly. "You shouldn't hurt Fai's feelings."

Kurogane scoffs. He walks to the chair nearby and sits down heavily, and he stares at the ceiling. Mokona hops on the chair cushion arm and stares at him, befuddled that he had not yelled at her or worse.

"That magician will work it out for himself," Kurogane assures her, a frown pulling down his lips despite that he was no position to doubt his own actions now. But he was positive of Fai's true feelings even when he refused to speak them aloud. The white manju would not tell him differently when the evidence was clearly right in front of his nose. "That idiot believes he wants to refuse my blood, but just like I thought back in Tokyo, I did not see the will to die in that expression. That shocked look, the burning passion in those eyes—that was the will to take the smallest bit of kindness that was offered to him. To prove to himself, to me, he was worth the extra effort. To live."

For now, Kurogane would just live with that knowledge until Fai finally got the message through his thick skull that he would never abandon him. And Kurogane would not do that when Fai had toasted a blood pact.


End file.
